5 ms·

Can't help wondering why they have the "choose the line" step. An obvious improvement is to have one line and direct passengers from the end of the line to the

Can't help wondering why they have the "choose the line" step. An obvious improvement is to have one line and direct passengers from the end of the line to the next available station. Then again, a better solution is to staff all screening stations all the time or build more. Why do we wait passengers wait for a minimum wage screening person? By do this we effectively say the passengers time is worth nothing. Their employer might no appreciate them having "idle time" with no-one to screen but I'm sure the passengers would sure like it. We don't mind firefighters and paramedics having down time, this should be extended to airport screeners.

mistermann 12y ago
I totally don't understand this, I would presume each line is processing people at 100% (of their capability) - how does controlling what line a person gets into going to shorten aggregate processing time unless some processors are sitting entirely idle, which we all know would never happen.
- anonymousDan 12y ago
  I'm pretty sure there is some fundamental queueing theory to back this up, as it's the main takeaway I had from a queuing theory course I took in college. Can't remember the details though, so I'm not sure it would still apply if a single queue entailed long walks from the head of the queue to the nearest available 'processor'. EDIT: more background here https://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/why-multiple-checkout-lines-are-not-all-bad/ https://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/why-multiple-... It appears you might be right in practice.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    I was going to link that too but I realized it had total throughput of cashiers as faster than customers. That means there are idle lines without people switching, which is not realistic at all. I'm really at a loss about what they made faster.
  - mistermann 12y ago
    From your link: "for 3 cashiers, it’s about 3 times faster than having a single line for each cashier.”" I would very much like someone to take me to a place in the physical world and show me an improvement of this magnitude. I simply cannot see how (in a setting like a bank or grocery store) this theory is nothing short of absolute insanity. EDIT: I just watched that video - is that guy trolling viewers? If you lose 1/3 of your cashiers, it has no effect on total throughput if you are using a single line queue? Just wow.

mistermann 12y ago

I totally don't understand this, I would presume each line is processing people at 100% (of their capability) - how does controlling what line a person gets into going to shorten aggregate processing time unless some processors are sitting entirely idle, which we all know would never happen.

anonymousDan 12y ago
I'm pretty sure there is some fundamental queueing theory to back this up, as it's the main takeaway I had from a queuing theory course I took in college. Can't remember the details though, so I'm not sure it would still apply if a single queue entailed long walks from the head of the queue to the nearest available 'processor'. EDIT: more background here https://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/why-multiple-checkout-lines-are-not-all-bad/ https://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/why-multiple-... It appears you might be right in practice.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  I was going to link that too but I realized it had total throughput of cashiers as faster than customers. That means there are idle lines without people switching, which is not realistic at all. I'm really at a loss about what they made faster.
- mistermann 12y ago
  From your link: "for 3 cashiers, it’s about 3 times faster than having a single line for each cashier.”" I would very much like someone to take me to a place in the physical world and show me an improvement of this magnitude. I simply cannot see how (in a setting like a bank or grocery store) this theory is nothing short of absolute insanity. EDIT: I just watched that video - is that guy trolling viewers? If you lose 1/3 of your cashiers, it has no effect on total throughput if you are using a single line queue? Just wow.